Tags

Type your tag names separated by a space and hit enter

Growing partners: building a community-academic partnership to address health disparities in rural North Carolina.
Prog Community Health Partnersh. 2014 Summer; 8(2):181-6.PC

Abstract

BACKGROUND

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) holds tremendous promise for addressing public health disparities. As such, there is a need for academic institutions to build lasting partnerships with community organizations. Herein we have described the process of establishing a relationship between a research university and a Black church in rural North Carolina. We then discuss Harvest of Hope, the church-based pilot garden project that emerged from that partnership.

METHODS

The partnership began with a third-party effort to connect research universities with Black churches to address health disparities. Building this academic-community partnership included collaborating to determine research questions and programming priorities. Other aspects of the partnership included applying for funding together and building consensus on study budget and aims. The academic partners were responsible for administrative details and the community partners led programming and were largely responsible for participant recruitment.

RESULTS

The community and academic partners collaborated to design and implement Harvest of Hope, a church-based pilot garden project involving 44 youth and adults. Community and academic partners shared responsibility for study design, recruitment, programming, and reporting of results. The successful operation of the Harvest of Hope project gave rise to a larger National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded study, Faith, Farming and the Future (F3) involving 4 churches and 60 youth. Both projects were CBPR efforts to improve healthy food access and reducing chronic disease. This partnership continues to expand as we develop additional CBPR projects targeting physical activity, healthy eating, and environmental justice, among others. Benefits of the partnership include increased community ownership and cultural appropriateness of interventions. Challenges include managing expectations of diverse parties and adequate communication. Lessons learned and strategies for building and maintaining similar partnerships are discussed.

CONCLUSIONS

The benefits of community-based research for addressing health disparities are many, and there are lessons to be learned that can strengthen community-academic partnerships.

Links

Publisher Full Text (DOI)

Authors

De Marco M
No affiliation info available
Kearney W
No affiliation info available
Smith T
No affiliation info available
Jones C
No affiliation info available
Kearney-Powell A
No affiliation info available
Ammerman A
No affiliation info available

MeSH

AdolescentAdultBlack or African AmericanCommunity ParticipationCommunity-Based Participatory ResearchCommunity-Institutional RelationsCooperative BehaviorDietExerciseHealth PromotionHealth Status DisparitiesHumansNorth CarolinaReligionRural PopulationUniversities

Pub Type(s)

Journal Article

Language

eng

PubMed ID

25152099

Citation

De Marco, Molly, et al. "Growing Partners: Building a Community-academic Partnership to Address Health Disparities in Rural North Carolina." Progress in Community Health Partnerships : Research, Education, and Action, vol. 8, no. 2, 2014, pp. 181-6.
De Marco M, Kearney W, Smith T, et al. Growing partners: building a community-academic partnership to address health disparities in rural North Carolina. Prog Community Health Partnersh. 2014;8(2):181-6.
De Marco, M., Kearney, W., Smith, T., Jones, C., Kearney-Powell, A., & Ammerman, A. (2014). Growing partners: building a community-academic partnership to address health disparities in rural North Carolina. Progress in Community Health Partnerships : Research, Education, and Action, 8(2), 181-6. https://doi.org/10.1353/cpr.2014.0021
De Marco M, et al. Growing Partners: Building a Community-academic Partnership to Address Health Disparities in Rural North Carolina. Prog Community Health Partnersh. 2014;8(2):181-6. PubMed PMID: 25152099.
* Article titles in AMA citation format should be in sentence-case
TY - JOUR T1 - Growing partners: building a community-academic partnership to address health disparities in rural North Carolina. AU - De Marco,Molly, AU - Kearney,William, AU - Smith,Tosha, AU - Jones,Carson, AU - Kearney-Powell,Arconstar, AU - Ammerman,Alice, PY - 2014/8/26/entrez PY - 2014/8/26/pubmed PY - 2014/12/15/medline SP - 181 EP - 6 JF - Progress in community health partnerships : research, education, and action JO - Prog Community Health Partnersh VL - 8 IS - 2 N2 - BACKGROUND: Community-based participatory research (CBPR) holds tremendous promise for addressing public health disparities. As such, there is a need for academic institutions to build lasting partnerships with community organizations. Herein we have described the process of establishing a relationship between a research university and a Black church in rural North Carolina. We then discuss Harvest of Hope, the church-based pilot garden project that emerged from that partnership. METHODS: The partnership began with a third-party effort to connect research universities with Black churches to address health disparities. Building this academic-community partnership included collaborating to determine research questions and programming priorities. Other aspects of the partnership included applying for funding together and building consensus on study budget and aims. The academic partners were responsible for administrative details and the community partners led programming and were largely responsible for participant recruitment. RESULTS: The community and academic partners collaborated to design and implement Harvest of Hope, a church-based pilot garden project involving 44 youth and adults. Community and academic partners shared responsibility for study design, recruitment, programming, and reporting of results. The successful operation of the Harvest of Hope project gave rise to a larger National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded study, Faith, Farming and the Future (F3) involving 4 churches and 60 youth. Both projects were CBPR efforts to improve healthy food access and reducing chronic disease. This partnership continues to expand as we develop additional CBPR projects targeting physical activity, healthy eating, and environmental justice, among others. Benefits of the partnership include increased community ownership and cultural appropriateness of interventions. Challenges include managing expectations of diverse parties and adequate communication. Lessons learned and strategies for building and maintaining similar partnerships are discussed. CONCLUSIONS: The benefits of community-based research for addressing health disparities are many, and there are lessons to be learned that can strengthen community-academic partnerships. SN - 1557-0541 UR - https://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/citation/25152099/Growing_partners:_building_a_community_academic_partnership_to_address_health_disparities_in_rural_North_Carolina_ DB - PRIME DP - Unbound Medicine ER -